How do I know all of this? Through a wonderful book by Debra Haagen called "Amazing Animals by Design". Whose design? God's! "Amazing Animals by Design" was written for the prek-3rd grade child and is a great introduction to the theory of intelligent design.
I don't think it is a surprise to any one of you that I firmly believe that God created the heavens and the earth and everything on the earth. He has a purpose and a plan for everything. Humans of course, but even plants and animals. I want my children to learn this at a young age. Unfortunately most of the books that focus on this are written for older children and adults. Debra Haagen saw the need for a book on intelligent design that focuses on younger children and she did a beautiful job writing one.
"Amazing Animals by Design" follows John and Sarah as they take a trip to the zoo with their family. As they wander throughout the zoo and learn about all of the great creatures they realize that the zoo keepers and their parents keep using the same word to describe the animals. They keep saying that the elephant, giraffe, ostrich, zebra, Barbary sheep and, yes, the caracal are all designed a special way so that eat, drink, and do the special things that they were meant to do. When they later ask their parents about the word design, they have a family discussion about the meaning of the word and who the Designer is.
As we read through the beautifully illustrated book the boys, even our teenager, loved learning about all of the animals and what makes them so special. It prompted them to want to know more about God's great creatures. That's why we decided to look up a video of caracals (we are still having discussions on the pronunciation
). So, how did God design them differently. He didn't have to give them the ability to run fast or balance on tree limbs to catch their prey. He gave the ability to JUMP...and to JUMP high! Caracals sneak up on their prey (usually birds) and then, when they take flight, the caracal jumps backwards up into the air and snatches the birds. The caracal can jump up to twelve feet!That's just one of the interesting things that sparked the interest of the boys. To find out what else is in this fascinating book you'll have to buy it yourself. Don't worry, it isn't expensive at all and, guess what, if you choose to purchase one you will be one of the first! You see, it just went on sale this month. The 24 page paperback version of this children's book is $8.99 and there is a downloadable ebook version for $7.99. You can find both of those by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above. You can find what the other TOS Crew members had to say about this book by clicking here. Finally, the author has graciously provided links to her author website and to the "Amazing Animals by Design" blog and facebook page and I am providing them below. Happy Homeschooling!
Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was sent a free copy ebook copy of "Amazing Animals by Design" in order to read with my family and give my honest review on this blog.
Website: http://debrahaagen.tateauthor.com/
Thank you for your review! :) Ha, ha, we've heard different pronunciations too, but the people at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where our caracal friend lives, call it a "care'-uh-kuhl". :)
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